


I'll Cover You

by bitchybook_writer



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Rent
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 06:13:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18330239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchybook_writer/pseuds/bitchybook_writer
Summary: Five times Marinette references RENT, and one time she can't.





	I'll Cover You

The first time she does it, her class are having a quiz.   
“How many minutes are there,” Miss Bustier pauses for dramatic effect, smirking at her class. They’re on the edge of their seats, hands ready to fly up into the air, “In a year?”   
There’s a chorus of groans as people begin to try and calculate in their heads. Max is halfway there when a shrill voice from beside Alya shouts out: “Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes! Five hundred twenty-five moments so dear!”   
Alya looks over at her small friend who is flushing crimson head to toe.   
“How on earth do you know that?”   
Marinette shrugs, giving an embarrassed smile.   
“Rent - I saw it with my Nonna. I couldn’t stop singing it for the whole weekend.”   
The second time she does it on patrol.   
She and Chat are slinking through the dark Parisian streets and notice a couple arguing behind a dumpster.   
“Well if you hadn’t been flirting with that woman in the - what’s it called?”   
“Rubber?”   
“That’s right, rubber! If you hadn’t been flirting with her then I wouldn’t have got angry-”  
“Oh, so it’s my fault, is it?” She looks pointedly at her lover, not noticing the two teenage superheroes watching them.   
“There will always be women in rubber flirting with me!” Hisses Ladybug under her breath, causing Chat to jerk his head around at her, a wild expression on his face.   
“Excuse me?”   
The two women look up at Chat and Ladybug. Chat offers an awkward wave, but too caught up in the moment and not able to resist, Ladybug jumps down from the roof and points at the angry woman.   
“There will always be women in rubber flirting with me! Give me a break!” And she promptly bursts into song, only stopping after being dragged away by Chat who whispers countless apologies to the two women, who can only stare in amazement.   
The third time she does it, it’s at karaoke night at the local youth club. Nino drags the three of them there if just to enjoy the music.   
It’s when a familiar tune crawls out of the speakers that Marinette gives out a cheer. Letting go of her fears, she drags Alya out of her chair and up to the stage, when then promptly begin singing a slightly out-of-tune version of ‘Out Tonight’. It’s not meant to be a duet, but they just about manage it. Of course, when the song is over, Marinette regrets it all.   
Especially singing it in front of Adrien.   
The fourth time she does it is after moving out of her parent’s house, and going to University. Juggling three jobs and with an eviction notice hammered onto her door, she is tired of living in expensive squalor and hides under her fabric.   
Then:  
“How do you document real life when real life’s getting more like fiction each day?” She sings softly a small tear running down her cheek. She wanted to prove to everyone that she could be independent. She wanted to prove to herself she was like Ladybug. Strong, brave, resourceful. “How we gonna pay last year’s rent?”  
Transforming, she leaps out of the window and jumps from roof to roof.   
“The music ignites the night with passionate fire! The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit!”   
And then, from behind her:  
“How do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?”   
Shrieking, she leaps around to discover her feline companion giving her a weak smile.   
“Chat! You scared me!”   
“I’m sorry, My Lady.”  
“Draw a line in the sand and then make a stand.”   
“When they act tough, you call their bluff!”   
And then, in unison: “We’re not gonna pay; last year’s rent, this year’s rent, next year’s rent!”   
The fifth time they’re at a cafe where a group of suspicious-looking teenagers are sitting, whispering.   
Alya is desperately trying to catch what they’re saying, but the voices are too quiet, too quick.   
And one of them starts having an argument with another group of teens behind them. And then:  
“Who died?”   
And Marinette can’t help herself.   
“AKITA!” She belts. The teenagers laugh and cheer.   
“EVITA!”   
Alya looks from the teens to Marinette.   
“What just happened?”  
“La Vie Boheme.” Breathes Adrien.   
Marinette giggles.   
Then enter a flash mob. She joins in, of course.   
“Dearly beloved, we gather here to say our goodbye’s…here she lies, no one knew her worth…the late great daughter of mother earth…”   
“German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein…”   
“To S&M!”  
It’s a couple of months later and the heroes find themselves fighting a gang of bank robbers holding half a dozen people hostage. They’ve called in the big guns - Rena, Queenie and Carapace.   
Carapace and Rena are defending the hostages from two of the gang - brilliantly. Queen Bee has recharged twice now, taking two men down with her. Ladybug and Chat are fighting side by side, as per usual.   
The robbers won’t kill them - they know that. As much as Hawkmoth wanted them dead, even the lowliest criminals accept that Ladybug and Chat Noir are the reason Paris remains safe. After the terrorist attack, no one wanted to take any chances and the two then-teenagers were made the official security of Paris. Alongside the police, of course.   
“This is exhilarating, M'Lady!” Bellows Chat, hitting one of the criminals over the head with his baton, causing the delinquent to fall over, out cold. Ladybug throws her head back and laughs.   
“Exhilarating? You’re an odd one, Kitty!”   
“You love me!” He teases, throwing her a flirty wink. This was their routine. It was what made them such good friends; the not-so-intimate intimacy; the slightly on edge way Ladybug turned him down.   
“You wish, you mangy feline!” He fakes a sign of mock hurt as she tangles another one of the masked thieves in her yoyo string. She giggles and then it turns into a full-blown laugh and then a bullet leaps out from nowhere and there is a bang and suddenly she is bowled over, face contorted in pain.   
Chat lets out an unholy scream that is not a cry of pain, not a cry of anger but both and neither at the same time.   
And Ladybug falls.   
He drops to his knees and takes her head in his lap. The fighting around them has stopped (except for Queen Bee, who was using all her efforts to find and tranquilise the shooter) but it could have carried on and he would have stayed, still, by her side.   
A fat tear rolls down his cheek and onto Ladybug’s nose. He wipes his eyes furiously, but there is no stopping time. She is going to go and it is his fault for being an idiot and flirting with her.   
She coughs, trying to say something, but it won’t work. All voice has been lost.   
And then, from behind:  
“Live in my house, I’ll be your shelter,” Carapace begins to sing softly, his deep voice still carrying over the deathly silence. His holds Rena to his chest, who looks up as he sings.  
“Just pay me back, with a thousand sweet kisses,” Her voice wavers, but she sings on anyway.   
Why are they singing Rent? How do they know…  
He looks down and Ladybug is no longer there. It’s Marinette and her transformation is up. How could he not have seen this? She lies, broken, in his arms and he doesn’t know what to do.   
“Be my lover…” Sings Queenie, and Chat didn’t even realise Chloe had even seen the goddamn musical.   
He decides to sing along.   
“And I’ll cover you,” Marinette’s eyes are full of sorrow, full of apologies. He smiles down at her and kisses her forehead, calling his transformation off. If anyone is shocked, they don’t show it.   
“Open your door, I’ll be your tenant,”   
“Don’t have much baggage to lay at your feet,”  
“But sweet kisses I’ve got to share, I’ll be there,”  
“And I’ll cover you!”   
“I know that they meant it,”   
“When they said you can’t buy love,”   
“Now I know you can rent it,”   
“And at least you were my love!”   
One by one, the heroes release their transformations, singing Marinette’s pain away as she falls further and further away from them.   
Or at least until the ambulance arrives.   
When she’s better, Marinette scolds them for being overdramatic and “Ow, Chloe, I’ve still been shot and your bear hugs hurt!”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little oneshot I wrote for you guys whilst on my break from study, so, enjoy! XD
> 
> Also, come stalk me on Tumblr. I'm lyricswrittenbythesecretdreamer.


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